Lions v Cardiff - Teams and Prediction
ROUND SIX RESCHEDULED: Lions prop Carlu Sadie says his team will have to make full use of their home ground advantage when they face Cardiff in a rescheduled United Rugby Championship Round Six clash on Sunday.
The Lions have not won in any competition for three months while their last victory at Ellis Park came in June.
Their only previous fixture against Welsh opposition ended in a 13-36 defeat against the Scarlets last October.
Cardiff’s last five games in the United Rugby Championship have all been won by the home side on the day and they have not triumphed on the road in the competition this term.
The Welsh region, though, have lost just one of their last five encounters against South African sides, going down 19-29 at home to the Bulls in October.
“They are going to be a quality side,” said Sadie.
“We know the boys from Wales are tough. We know we have to man up against them and just do what we have to do.
“It’s never going to be an easy game with them. They got a quality set-piece.
“They come with basic rugby, but they play quality rugby, so that’s the big thing we need to identify.
“They are not coming here just to compete; they are obviously coming here for a win.
“Playing at Ellis Park, we need to use the advantage we have, especially with the thin air.
“We know they pride themselves on set-pieces, they are not a fancy team going all over the park. They are going to show you what they are going to bring, and we will just have to man up.
“It’s going to be a tough one, but we are very excited about it.”
What’s the altitude like in Johannesburg, Vincent? 🇿🇦
“The air is very thin” 👀#URC | @LionsRugbyCo pic.twitter.com/k2oZnxS10n
— United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial) March 10, 2022
Meanwhile, Cardiff are coming off a 12-48 defeat to Ulster and the Welsh side’s Director of Rugby Dai Young said his players had a hard look at themselves after that defeat.
“It wasn’t just a case that I wasn’t happy with last week’s defeat, but the players are honest enough with themselves as well,” said Young.
“The first thing you have to do is look at yourself. I put my hand up and said that I couldn’t have got it right. The reality is that 1 to 23 weren’t at the races, so preparations couldn’t have been right.
“In saying that, the players were also honest enough to put their hands up. They knew that wasn’t good enough and we’ll have to bounce back this week.
“We’re very respectful of the team that we’re facing and we know these are real quality teams. I know it’s a cliché, but we know we’ll need to be at our best to come away from South Africa with anything.
“A big focus has been on getting ourselves right and back up to the performance levels that we’re happy with. If we adhere and play to those standards but aren’t good enough on the day, then so be it.
“We’re very respectful of them, and know their strengths, but we also want to play to our strengths.”
Prediction
@rugby365com: Lions by four points.
Teams:
Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Stean Pienaar, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Jordan Hendrikse, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Francke Horn, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Jaco Kriel (captain), 5 Reinhard Nothnagel, 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Carlu Sadie, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Sithembiso Sithole.
Replacements: 16 PJ Botha, 17 JP Smith, 18 Ruan Dreyer, 19 Ruan Venter, 20 Emmanuel Tshituka, 21 Nico Steyn, 22 Manuel Rass, 23 Tiaan Swanepoel.
Cardiff: 15 Matthew Morgan, 14 Owen Lane, 13 Rey Lee-Lo, 12 Ben Thomas, 11 Aled Summerhill, 10 Jarrod Evans, 9 Lloyd Williams, 8 James Botham, 7 Will Boyde, 6 Shane Lewis-Hughes, 5 Matthew Screech, 4 Josh Turnbull (captain), 3 Dmitri Arhip, 2 Kirby Myhill, 1 Corey Domachowski.
Replacements: 16 Kristian Dacey, 17 Brad Thyer, 18 Will Davies-King, 19 Rory Thornton, 20 Ellis Jenkins, 21 Jamie Hill, 22 Max Llewellyn, 23 Hallam Amos.
Date: Sunday, March 13
Venue: Ellis Park, Johannesburg
Kick-off: 16:00 (14.00 UK & Ireland time; 14,00 GMT)
Referee: Chris Busby (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Cwengile Jadezweni (South Africa), Griffin Colby (South Africa)
TMO: Ben Whitehouse (Wales)
